Joel Santo DomingoHP Pavilion Elite HPE-367c-bThe HP Pavilion Elite HPE-367c-b adds Blu-ray and a 27-inch monitor to an attractive and powerful multimedia desktop PC. However, there are a few glaring drawbacks, such as lack of HDMI cables and an eSATA port.

No HMDI cable included. Need to connect separate audio cable to monitor. No eSATA. No analog input ports. Screen resolution is the same as a 24-inch monitor. No 802.11 a/n 5GHz support. Bloatware.

Bottom Line

The HP Pavilion Elite HPE-367c-b adds Blu-ray and a 27-inch monitor to an attractive and powerful multimedia desktop PC. However, there are a few glaring drawbacks, such as lack of HDMI cables and an eSATA port.

The HP Pavilion Elite HPE-367c-b ($1,499.99 list) adds Blu-ray and a 27-inch monitor to an attractive and powerful multimedia desktop PC. It's available from Costco stores nationwide, and is a decent choice for those picking up a PC along with their groceries. However, there are a few glaring drawbacks, so the system drops from being a top contender to a runner-up in the race for the best mainstream multimedia desktop.

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Design
The HPE-367c-b follows HP's recent Pavilion Elite system design, with a glossy black mid-tower chassis and backlit HP logo. There is extra space that translates into room for future expandability. The system has space for three more PCIe x1 cards for stuff like TV tuners and eSATA cards. There are two free bays for internal hard drives and one free optical drive bay. The system also has 9 USB 2.0 ports and one FireWire port. Previous HP Pavilion Elite systems had analog AV ports under the front access door, which would help connect older electronics like camcorders and VCRs. The system lacks an eSATA port, which allows for a speedier connection for hard drives. Other media-oriented systems, like the Editors' Choice, Dell Studio XPS 7100 ($1,149 direct, ), have eSATA ports and are just a little more future-proofed than the HPE-367 c-b.

The system comes with a large 27-inch widescreen monitor that matches the design of the desktop PC. The monitor has a native screen resolution, 1,920 by 1,080, which is "true 1080p HD", so you'll see all the pixels in the Blu-ray movies you've paid for. It's bigger than the 25-inch panel bundled with the HP Pavilion p6577c-b ($999 list, ) and 21.5-inch monitor bundled with the HP Pavilion p6527c-b ($699.99 list, ), but all three share the same resolution. This is great for those with aging eyesight, since everything will be displayed "bigger," but the Apple iMac 27-inch ($2,199.00 List, ) has the same size screen with a much denser 2,560 by 1,440 resolution (i.e., you'll be able to display more on the iMac's 27-inch screen).

One drawback of the PC-monitor combination package is the system did not come with an HDMI cable. This omission is glaring; the included DVI cable and audio cable together do the same job, but the single HDMI cable solution would help you reduce clutter on your desk. Said another way, if you're not going to pack in an $8 HDMI cable with a system and monitor that both have HDMI ports, why bother advertising that both have HDMI?

The system is ready out of the box, with Microsoft's Works pre-loaded along with a whole bunch of HP utilities, like the HP Total Care Advisor (tech support) and HP MediaSmart (digital audio/video/photo conumption). I would count the above as useful. On the other hand, the system is loaded down with a lot of bloatware, including Office 60-day trial, Norton Online Backup 30-day trial, eBay, Quicken/Quickbooks, Barnes & Noble's eBook reader, Hulu, Bing toolbar, Pandora, Snapfish, and HP games (Wild Tangent). The system's Norton Internet Security subscription (6 months) is a lot better than previous HPE systems (the previous HPE-257c-b ($1,400 list, ) only gave 60-days of updates), though I'd like to see at least a year.

There's also a program called "HP Download Store" which allows you to buy programs online and download them. In my opinion, this program should be the only extraneous one on the system. That way a user can shop for, and choose, what he or she wants on the system, instead of being forced to endure an evening of uninstalling programs when they bring the HPE-367c-b home for the first time.

However, when it comes to 3D performance, the HPE-367c-b ATI Radeon HD 5570 card is no match for the Dell XPS 7100's ATI Radeon HD 5870 card. The HPE-367c-b can only muster a mostly playable 49 frames per second (fps) at Crysis and a smooth 59 fps at World in Conflict (both at medium quality and 1,280 by 1,024 resolution). Unfortunately, since the system's HP 2710m monitor can't display 1,920 by 1,200 graphics, we couldn't test it at the higher quality setting and resolution. The Dell XPS 7100 is able to run the same two 3D tests much faster: A rock steady 65fps at Crysis and a blazing 82 fps at World in Conflict. The Dell is even has a decent showing at 1,920 by 1,200 resolution: 35fps at Crysis and 48 fps at WiC. Likewise the Dell's 3Dmark score (30,667 points) trounces the HP's result (17,495 points).

When you discount the HP's $360 monitor, you get a price of $1,140, almost identical to that of the Dell Studio XPS 7100 ($1,149). The HPE-367c-b is a better multimedia performer and has the longer, 2-year warranty compared with the Dell XPS 7100's one year. Both systems have Blu-ray readers and are HD-oriented. So why doesn't the HPE-367c-b knock the Dell off the hill as the mainstream multimedia Editors' Choice?

The Dell XPS 7100 has no pre-loaded bloatware, comes with 15 months of Norton Antivirus protection, a larger 1.5TB drive, and support for 802.11a/n 5GHz Wi-Fi, which is important if you have a lot of neighbors that use 2.4GHz 802.11g routers. The Dell XPS 7100 also vastly outperforms the HPE-367c-b on the 3D front (important if you have gamers in the house), and has an eSATA port, an important interface for multimedia enthusiasts. Last but not least, the HP has HDMI on both the PC and the monitor, yet there's no HDMI cable in the box.

For all of these reasons, the HP Pavilion Elite HPE-367c-b is still worthy of consideration, but falls behind our Editors' Choice, the Dell Studio XPS 7100.

HP Pavilion Elite HPE-367c-b

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Bottom Line: The HP Pavilion Elite HPE-367c-b adds Blu-ray and a 27-inch monitor to an attractive and powerful multimedia desktop PC. However, there are a few glaring drawbacks, such as lack of HDMI cables and an eSATA port.

Joel Santo Domingo is the Lead Analyst for the Desktops team at PC Magazine Labs. He joined PC Magazine in 2000, after 7 years of IT work for companies large and small. His background includes managing mobile, desktop and network infrastructure on both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Joel is proof that you can escape the retail grind: he wore a yellow polo shirt early in his tech career. Along the way Joel earned a BA in English Literature and an MBA in Information Technology...
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